Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway
| Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | |||
| Status | absorbed by Caledonian Railway | ||
| Locale | Scotland | ||
| Operation | |||
| Opened | 1 September 1863 | ||
| Closed | 18 April 1966 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||
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The Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway was a railway in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. It connected Dumfries with Lockerbie. Promoted independently, it was absorbed by the Caledonian Railway to give access to Dumfriesshire and later to Portpatrick for the Irish ferry service. It opened in 1863, closed to ordinary passenger services in 1952, and closed completely in 1966.
In the first years of the nineteenth century, the area round Lochmaben was agricultural. The Burgh of Dumfries was dominant in the area, and the stage route between Carlisle and Glasgow and Edinburgh ran through Lockerbie. There had traditionally been significant trade movement along the Lockerbie - Lochmaben - Dumfries road.
In 1847 the Caledonian Railway (CR) opened its main line through Lockerbie. In 1848 a line between Carlisle and Dumfries was opened, and was extended to complete a Carlisle - Dumfries - Kilmarnock - Glasgow route in 1849; the company building that route became the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) in 1850.
The arrival of the railway brought cheap coal to the communities served, and helped farmers by cheaply bringing fertiliser in and farm produce away. Lochmaben felt itself at a disadvantage to its neighbours, four miles (Lockerbie) and six miles (Dumfries) away. The populations in 1850 were Lochmaben: 3,100; Dumfries: 11,000; and Lockerbie (in 1851) 1,569.
Local interests promoted an independent line between Lockerbie and Dumfries, and an Act authorising the Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerby Junction Railway received the Royal Assent on 14 June 1860; the authorised capital was £85,000 in £10 shares, with borrowing powers of £28,300.
The promoters wished to have an independent passenger station in Dumfries, but the G&SWR opposed this and the House of Lords committee agreed, obliging the DL&LR to use the G&SWR station.
The CR was happy to see the line promoted locally, considering that it would give it access to Dumfries, and fearing that the G&SWR would be hostile to a line directly promoted directly by them.
B. & H. Blyth of Edinburgh designed and built the line, and services started on 1 September 1863. It was 14½ miles (23 km) long. At Dumfries passenger trains crossed the G&SWR main line on the flat to join the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway (CD&DR), which ran parallel to the G&SWR line and on its west side; the CD&DR lines ran to north-facing bay platforms on the west side of Dumfries passenger station, and local passenger trains ran to a bay platform at Dumfries. The DL&LJR set up an independent goods station, named St Mary's, on the east side of the G&SWR line. The Caledonian Railway worked the line from the outset.
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